Elizabeth D. Haskell

Elizabeth Dyer Haskell, age 97, passed away peacefully with family present at Cape Cod Hospital on June 28. She was born to Ruth P. Dyer and John R. Dyer Sr. in Truro and raised there, attending Provincetown High School; graduating as valedictorian before heading off to Bates College.

She met Richard Haskell when he was a swimming instructor at Ballston Beach one summer. They were married in 1948 living in Danvers, Truro, and Methuen; then Stony Brook, Long Island, New York, for 28 years before returning to Truro in 1986 after her mother passed. While on Long Island she earned a master’s degree in library science and worked as an elementary school librarian. They did a good bit of traveling: making it to all fifty states, as well as Ireland, and parts of the United Kingdom and squeezed in a celebration of 50 years of marriage in 1998.

Using her librarian training she volunteered in the Truro libraries and service to her beloved town also included being the Cemetery Commissioner. She most especially maintained an interest in the violin, piano, and especially chorus until her last years. Along with needlepoint, these sustained her after the death of her husband in 2007. She continued to travel, though: Rome and Venice one trip, Paris and up the Rhine from The Netherlands up into Switzerland on another.

She is survived by a son, Franklin Haskell of Hyannis, and two daughters: Victoria Haskell of Bolton, and Priscilla Silva in Truro; as well as eight grandchildren, and five great grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 1 PM on September 14th at the First Congregational Parish Church in Truro. In lieu of flowers please make a donation to: the Massachusetts Audubon Society, Friends of the Truro Council on Aging, or the First Congregational Parish of Truro.